'Draft Day' review: Kevin Costner's football movie scores a touchdown

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Bruce Kirkland, QMI Agency

For hardcore football fans, Draft Day could rank as a touchdown worth celebrating. But you do not need to be a fan of American football to enjoy this unabashedly reverential sports movie.

I know that because I do not follow the National Football League and could care less. Yet I do enjoy Draft Day as a quick-and-easy, lightweight romantic drama with a believable sports theme.

Draft Day is the work of veteran Canadian producer-director Ivan Reitman. He is best known for helming two Ghostbusters movies, with a third finally on the way. As always, Reitman delivers in a workmanlike fashion, without much ornamentation. Except for his old-fashioned split-screen technique, which he makes good stylistic use of in the film. This approach is exactly what this Hollywood movie needs: Simplicity, little fuss, a touch of reality and a decent cast to deliver the story.

Kevin Costner has the lead role as the youthful general manager of the woeful Cleveland Browns (the character seems to be younger than Costner’s actual age of 59). Eager to please himself, his over-anxious owner (Frank Langella), his newly widowed mother (Ellen Burstyn) and his “secret” in-office but now vexed girlfriend (Jennifer Garner), Costner decides to take some incredible risks in the hours leading up to the draft. That means a series of wildly ambitious trades that run afoul of the wishes of the owner, the fans, the mother and the team’s loud-mouthed coach (Dennis Leary, who does know a thing or two about the NFL). Only Garner offers support, but remains annoyed with how Costner fumbles their relationship issues.

Basically — and Draft Day is very basic — the movie is all about the juggling act that Costner’s character manages between his private and public lives as clock literally ticks away. Reitman repeatedly shows the countdown on the screen, whittling away hours, minutes and then the seconds before the draft begins. It begins again before each early pick is announced during the proceedings at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The clock serves as a reminder of the pressure that leads to the risks and plot twists.

Costner carries the movie with a combination of low-key charm and the occasional burst of ego and anger that makes us believe that this man really is the general manager of a football team in one of the world’s most high-pressure sports. Like the baseball movie Moneyball, Draft Day takes the audience deep inside its sport. Screenwriters Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph obviously did their research. The movie seems legit.

The romantic stuff is standard issue, but Costner and Garner seem to share a nice chemistry and we root for them to figure things out. Leary and Langella are strong as the obnoxious coach and the interfering owner, Chadwick Boseman (who played baseball legend Jackie Robinson in 42) and Arian Foster (running back for the Houston Texans) do a good job as potential first-round draft picks, Burstyn is hilarious as mom and Griffin Newman steals scenes as Rick the Intern.

There are also a host of cameos from real football people playing themselves, among them Chris Berman, Jon Gruden, Deion Sanders, Ray Lewis and even NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Draft Day may be lightweight, but some NFL heavyweights are on screen.